Brit indie rockers Bloc Party’s latest release is curiously titled; it’s their fourth full-length album, but also comes after a four-year wait. Their last album was 2008’s Intimacy. While their last album had a few unmemorable tracks, Four is consistently catchy, probably going on to become a monument to modern British indie post-punk and alternative rock.
There’s robotic drumming from Matt Tong; deep, often heavy, bass lines that you can swim in, courtesy Gordon Moakes; and solos and riffs from Russell Lissack and Kele Okereke. The album kicks off with ‘So He Begins to Lie’. The first five tracks completely lock the listener in. ‘3x3’ and ‘Kettling’ are sharp and fast, yet somewhat eclectic. The first single ‘Octopus’ is possibly the poppiest, radio-friendly track of the lot.
Keeping in mind that, when you’re five tracks in, you know something ahead is going to change the album’s sound. After all, British acts love to experiment. Bloc Party are no strangers to adding that dash of electronic, digital beats to their songs.
‘Real Talk’ has Okereke’s signature falsetto set to the usual themes of love and want extending beyond friendship. It’s fair to say that, subject wise, the topic doesn’t deviate too much from the expected. It’s what separates them from the rest of Britain’s political-commentary-obsessed artists. That said, if the lyrics seem cheesy, or even the topics themselves, there’s always the music — like in the calculated indie of ‘Team A’, the happy-go-lucky love song ‘Truth’ and the soft wavy reverberating ‘The Healing’.
They change the mood on ‘Day Four’, a dreamy ballad of sorts swelling with ambient soundscapes. Then they do away with mood altogether and shift vehicles (not even gears) with a country western start to ‘Coliseum’. The song ascends — or descends depending on how you hear it — into fuzz-filled madness. Clearly, they want to confound.
Four proves that British alternative rock will never bore at any time. The album moves between the soft and the heavy but, by the closing track ‘We’re Not Good People’, Bloc Party prefers to go crazy and step on the distortion pedal for some frenzied dance-y rock. It leaves no doubt that this album leans on the heavy side of things, but with a certain sweetness to it. Which is probably the easiest way to describe Bloc Party.
Bottomline: Proof that British alternative rock will never bore at any time
Four;Bloc Party, Frenchkiss Records
